Due to the globalization of trade and the advent of common markets, the process of converting information from one language to another with a computer, called machine-assisted translation (MAT), is becoming increasingly important.
In MAT systems a human translator prepares a target language document, in a target language, from a source language document, in a source language, using a word processing program, automatic terminology managers, on-line multilingual term banks, and other computer-based tools which boost translator productivity.
An example using FIG. 1 will help illustrate how existing MAT systems operate. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system 100 which assists a human translator in translating a source language document 112 to a target language document 116. The system 100 consists of a computer 102, a keyboard 104, a mouse 106, and a display screen 108.
A user of the system 100 invokes a word processing program 110 using either the keyboard 104 or the mouse 106, and creates the source language document 112 containing the text "This is an example". The user then invokes a translation assistant 114 to assist the translator in translating the source language document 112 from the source language (e.g., English) to the target language document 116 containing the corresponding sentence in the target language (e.g., German).
To assist the user in translating the source language document 112 to the target language document 116 the translation assistant 114 displays a translation screen 118 and a dictionary screen 120 on the display screen 108. The translation screen 118 displays the text of the source language document 112. The dictionary screen 120 displays source terms 124 and corresponding translation options 126 which translate a given source term 124 into the target language. The translation assistant 114 retrieves each translation option 126 from a translation dictionary 122 which stores source terms 124 and their corresponding translation options 126. Each translation option 126 on the dictionary screen 120 is preceded by an identifier such as "a)", "b)", "c)" etc.
With the translation screen 118 and the dictionary screen 120 displayed on the display screen 108, the user reads the source language document 112 displayed on the translation screen 118. Next, the user looks away from the translation screen 118 and at the dictionary screen 120. By looking at the dictionary screen 120, the user finds the source terms 124 from the source language document 112 which are displayed on the dictionary screen 120 due to a match with the &lt;source terms 124, translation option 126&gt; pairs stored in the translation dictionary 122 of the translation assistant 114. The user then chooses which displayed source term 124 to translate. Then the user determines which corresponding translation option 126 to select to translate the chosen source term 124. Finally, the user invokes a copy translation command which copies the selected translation option 126 from the dictionary screen 120 to the translation screen 118. The user then looks away from the dictionary screen 120 to the translation screen 118 to see the selected translation option 126 displayed on the translation screen 118.
It is desirable to avoid looking from the translation screen 118 to the dictionary screen 120 in order to insert translation options 126.
It is also desirable to avoid looking from the translation screen 118 to the dictionary screen 120 to determine which source terms 124 from the source language document 112 have been matched with &lt;source term 124, translation option 126&gt; pairs from the translation dictionary 122 of the translation assistant 114.